Report on the Beveridge proposals
1943-01-19 1943 1940s 20 pages 19. Whilst it is hoped that this may be a feature of Government post-war policy, yet this assumption is probably too optimistic to accept. Moreover, no mention is made in the Report of the fact that the present cost of living is heavily subsidised at the expense of the...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
19 January 1943
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/FAF86D6C-90FE-467A-85E6-937AC402C7A1 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/9C24E4CF-79C5-448C-8932-F6B3E813CBCF |
| Summary: | 1943-01-19
1943
1940s
20 pages
19. Whilst it is hoped that this may be a feature of Government post-war policy, yet this assumption is probably too optimistic to accept. Moreover, no mention is made in the Report of the fact that the present cost of living is heavily subsidised at the expense of the Exchequer. On the whole, however, the Committee feel that rates of benefit under a system of social insurance would have to be paid without regard to present variations, and must be assumed to include a proportion based on what may be regarded as a reasonable average rent. Unless benefits are to be modified by means of some rental formula, which presupposes a Means Test, the shortcomings indicated in the first question must be accepted. The Committee have given reasons in paragraph 14 why the considerations affecting social insurance benefits are not necessarily appropriate to unemployment benefits. They cannot therefore give an affirmative answer to the second question. The Committee wish to emphasise that, because a number of people will receive weekly payments under a variety of benefits, whether in fact their own lack of resources make this socially necessary or not, the social insurance scheme goes far further than the mere removal of want. So long as a scheme confines itself to the abolition of want, it is legitimate and necessary to vary the contributions and benefits in accordance with marked fluctuations in the cost of living. But as the scheme goes further than the abolition of want, the Committee view with considerable apprehension the proposed relationship to the level of contributions and benefit to the cost of living. As the cost of living increases so does it become more difficult for contributors to pay more whether directly or through taxation. The very fact of doing so might not only militate against the fall in the cost of living, but the burdens themselves might well become so intolerable as to cause the scheme to break down altogether.
200/B/3/2/C216/5/93 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |